Sports Today: Almost time to see this revamped Ohio State offense

Ohio State football begins the 2017 season this week, and Indiana presents an appropriate opponent given the biggest story of the offseason: Revamping the Buckeyes offense.

This would be true even if Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator weren’t the Hoosiers’ old coach, but of course that adds another interesting layer to the proceedings set for Bloomington on Thursday night.

Last season, Indiana was the first team to give the Ohio State offense fits.

J.T. Barrett completed only 9 of 21 passes for 93 yards, and a 37-yard pass to Dontre Wilson late in the fourth quarter when the game was essentially over accounted for more than 1/3rd of OSU’s passing offense.

The man who coordinated that defensive effort, Tom Allen, is now the head coach at Indiana.

He performed a minor miracle last season by turning the Hoosiers into a respectable stop unit, and there is good reason to believe IU could present a challenge on that side of the ball again.

Even before Allen got to town, the Hoosiers frustrated the Buckeyes in Bloomington in 2016, so Ohio State is due for a big performance against a program it has beaten more than 70 times.

Enter Wilson: From the first time I heard the rumors he could be coming to Columbus, I thought that would be a home run for the Buckeyes.

He represents almost exactly what Ohio State needed to fix the woes of the last year years: A respected, established offensive mind who understands how to organize a game plan and how to emphasize players’ strengths while avoiding their weaknesses.

This is a guy who brought a team that almost literally could not pass the ball to Columbus in 2014 and had a lead in the fourth quarter.

Everyone on the planet knew Tevin Coleman was Indiana’s only offensive weapon, and he still ran for 228 yards and three touchdowns.

While Urban Meyer was bemoaning how hard it is to run his offense without the threat of a running quarterback, Wilson was coordinating one of the Big Ten’s best scoring units with a statue calling the signals.

So, heading into game one it will be fascinating to see what tweaks he has made and of course how the Buckeyes execute them.

During the preseason, Wilson talked about putting guys into position to succeed —including Barrett and the offensive line, something Ed Warriner struggled with mightily the last two years as offensive coordinator.